Strange Fruit is a one-hour documentary exploring the history and legacy of a song unique in the annals of American music. Popularised by Billie Holiday in 1939, Strange Fruit gives a bitter and harrowing description of a lynching. One of the most important protest songs ever written, it became a staple in Billie Holiday’s career. Its’ lyrics were read on the floor of Congress during ultimately unsuccessful efforts to pass Federal anti-lynching legislation, and it has been recorded by dozens of artists since it was written in the mid 1930s. Yet relatively few people know it was written by a Jewish school teacher from the Bronx.

While many people mistakenly assume that Strange Fruit was written by Holiday herself, the words and music were actually written by Abel Meeropol, a New York City public school teacher and a Jew of Russian immigrant origin who published music under the name Lewis Allan. Meeropol’s other best known composition was The House I Live In, most famously performed by Frank Sinatra. Abel Meeropol is also known for having adopted with his wife Anne the orphaned children of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg in 1953.

The tale of the song Strange Fruit reflects on the lives of African-Americans, immigrant Jews, anticommunist government officials, radical Leftist organisers, music publishers and jazz musicians. It is a telling anecdote in the history of Black/ Jewish relations, a story which includes episodes of poverty, prejudice, and lynching as well as of poetry, music and artistic expression. The documentary Strange Fruit tells a dramatic story of the American past using this song as its epicentre. The issues raised are ones which still resonate deeply with contemporary cultural landscapes in America.

Credits

An Oniera Films production in association with Independent Television Services. Produced, directed, written and edited by Joel Katz.